Method of making a composite yarn



Aug. 11,1970 R. B. WOLF METHOD oF MAKING A coMPosITE YARN Original FiledAug. l5. 1968 United States Patent O Int. Cl. D02g 3/02 U.S. Cl. 57--1404 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A composite yarn formed fromtwisting together textured filamentary acetate and textured filamentarypolyester yarns. The acetate is preferably solution dyed, while thetextured polyester filaments are preferably dyed to a color whichsubstantially corresponds to the color of the acetate filaments.

This is a division of application Ser. No. 752,858, filed Aug. l5, 1968,now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally tocomposite yarn utilized principally in the production of knittedfabrics. In the art, it is well known to form such fabrics from eithertextured filamentary acetate or textured filamentary polyester. `Fabricformed from said textured lilamentary acetate is beautiful in appearancehaving excellent luster, drape and hand. The color of such fabrics isclear and bright. However, `acetate fabrics tend to sag and aredefinitely not machine-washable. Accordingly, such fabrics must be handwashed or drycleaned.

On the other hand, knitted fabrics formed from textured filamentarypolyester are machine washable, wrinkle free, and almost indestructible.However, such polyester fabrics are difficult to dye and it is difficultto produce level colors therein. Further, the hand of polyester fabricsis crisp and dry and the drape thereof is not as esthetically pleasingas the drape of fabrics formed from textured flamentary acetate..

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Generally speaking, in accordance with theinvention, a composite yarn is provided which consists of texturedfilamentary acetate and textured filamentary polyester. The yarnpreferably includes two strands of acetate for each strand of polyester.The acetate is preferably solution dyed and formed into a Ifilamentaryyarn which is then textured. A filamentary polyester yarn is alsotextured and then may be dyed to a color substantially corresponding tothe color of said solution dyed filamentary acetate yarn. The resultingtextured filamentary acetate and polyester yarns are twisted together toform the composite yarn according to the invention.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a compositeyarn from which knitted fabrics having substantially the luster, drape,hand and color characteristics f acetate fabrics and the washability,wrinkle resistance and easy care of polyester fabrics.

Another object of the invention is to provide a composite yarn which hasimproved characteristics but which may be produced on existingequipment.

A further object of the invention is to provide a method for producing acomposite yarn having the above-described characteristics.

Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part beobvious and will in part be apparent from the specification.

3,523,416 Patented Aug. 11, 1970 JCC The invention accordingly comprisesthe several steps and the relation of one or, more of such steps withrespect to each of the others, and the article possessing the features,properties, and the relation of elements, which .are exemplified in thefollowing detailed disclosure, and the scope of the invention will beindicated in the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING For a fuller runderstanding of theinvention, reference is had to the following description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing, in which: l'

FIG. f1 is a schematic representation of one strand of texturedpolyester and two strands of textured acetate;

FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of the filaments of FIG. 1 twistedto form a composite yarn; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of a composite yarn formed fromtextured iilamentary acetate and textured filamentary polyester.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to FIG. 1, the basicconstituents of the preferred embodiment of the composite yarn accordingto the invention, namely one filament 10 of textured polyester and twoAfilaments 12 of textured acetate, are schematically shown.

In FIG. 2, the filaments or strands of FIG. 1 are shown plied togetherto form a composite yarn 14. FIG. 3 shows a composite yarn according tothe invention comprising a plurality of textured acetate filaments and aplurality of textured polyester filaments as would be the case in actualyarns.

In forming the composite yarn according to the invention, the texturedfilamentary acetate and the textured filamentary polyester are processedseparately. Acetate yarns are preferably solution dyed during theextrusion operation since the dyeing of textured acetate yarn or fabricgenerally causes a significant loss of texture, bulk and othercharacteristics. Accordingly, the acetate yarns utilized in thecomposite yarn according to the invention are preferably formed rbysolution dyeing the acetate, extruding a lamentary yarn from saidacetate and texturing said acetate filamentary yarn in the conventionalmanner.

The polyester filamentary yarn utilized in the composite yarn accordingto the invention is also textured in the conventional manner and thendyed. In the preferred embodiment according to the invention, thetextured polyester filamentary yarn is dyed to a color substantiallycorresponding to the color of the solution dyed textured acetatefilamentary yarn so that the composite yarn formed therefrom will have asubstantially uniform color. However, the composite yarn according tothe invention could be formed from acetate and polyester filalmentaryyarns of different colors or shades if s'o desired. Textured polyesterflamentary yarn may be dyed by any of the conventional methods includingpressure dyeing, paddle machine dyeing, and package dyeing.

The composite yarn according to the invention is formed by twisting thetextured filamentary acetate and the textured filamentary polyestertogether in a conventional manner. In the preferred embodiment of theinvention, the composite yarn comprises two strands of textured acetatefor each strand of textured polyester.

The textured, continuous acetate and polyester filaments which form thecomposite yarn of the present invention may be textured by any ofseveral well known conventional methods which impart a crimp or curl tothe yarn when relaxed. Among the methods that may be used are the falsetwist method, the running of the filamentary yarn past a fluid jet todisrupt the filaments, overfeeding the filamentary yarn into a stufiingbox, running the synthetic yarn between a heated gear arrangement, andtwisting a strand of multilament synthetic yarn, heat setting ksaid yarnand then untwisting on conventional equipment. The texturizing of theacetate and polyester yarns forms no part of the present invention asthe textured yarns utilized in the present invention may be processedvin any number of Ways to achieve the desired results.

Example Solution dyed, iilamentary acetate yarn of a Weight of about 200denier was textured by the false twist method. Filamentary polyesteryarn of a Weight of about 150 denier was textured by the false twistmethod and package dyed to a color substantially corresponding to thecolor of said textured iilamentary acetate. A composite yarn was formedby twisting said acetate and polyester yarns together to form acomposite yarn, said composite yarn having two strands of said acetatefor each strand of said polyester. Knitted fabric was produced from saidcomposite yarn by conventional knitting methods. The resulting fabrichas substantially the drape, hand and esthetic appeal of fabric formedfrom textured acetate and the washability, wrinkle resistance and easycare of fabric formed from textured polyester.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, and those madeapparent from the preceding description are efficiently obtained and,since certain changes may be made in carrying out the above method andthe articles set forth without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the abovedescription and shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpretedas illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended tocover all of the generic and specific features of the invention hereindescribed, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as amatter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

What is claimed is:

1. A method for forming a composite yarn comprising solution-dyeingacetate; forming a iilamentary yarn from said solution-dyed acetate;texturing said acetate iilamentary yarn; forming a polyester larnentaryyarn; texturing said polyester lamentary yarn; collecting said texturedpolyester flamentary yarn in a package; dyeing said package to a colorsubstantially corresponding to the color of said solution-dyediilarnentary acetate yarn; and twisting said textured polyester and saidtextured acetate yarns together to form a composite yarn.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein two parts of said texturedacetate lamentary yarn are twisted with one part of said texturedpolyester lamentary yarn to form said composite yarn.

3. A composite yarn produced in accordance with the method of claim 1.

4. A composite yarn produced in accordance with the method of claim 2.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,971,322 2/1961 Bouvet 57--1403,022,545 2/1962 Wylde et al. 264-168 XR 3,166,886 1/1965 Kretsch 28-75XR 3,251,097 3/1966 Faw et al 57-140 XR 3,309,855 3/1967 Stoll et al.57-157 XR FOREIGN PATENTS 247,434 10/ 1963 Australia.

782,205 4/1968 Canada.

986,297 3/ 1965 Great Britain. 1,059,567 2/ 1967 Great Britain.

STANLEY N. GILREATH, Primary Examiner W. H. SOHROEDER, AssistantExaminer U.S. Cl. X.R.

